Putin in Algeria: Debt agreement reached

Published March 10th, 2006 - 21:02 GMT

Algeria and Russia agreed Friday to write off the debt assessed at $ 4.7 billion, incurred by Algeria to Russia, an official source indicated.

Algeria and Russia agreed Friday to write off the debt assessed at $ 4.7 billion, incurred by Algeria to Russia, an official source indicated. According to APS, this agreement was announced during the historic visit of President Vladimir Putin to Algiers. In compensation of this writing off, Algeria committed to buy goods and services from Russia for an amount equivalent to the debt.

Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport has also reached a $7.5 billion arms deal with Algeria and is preparing to sign another deal worth $2-3 billion.